Innovation Motivation, Divergent Thinking, and Creative Story Writing: Convergence and Divergence across the Torrance Tests and Tat

Abstract

Undergraduates ( N = 64) completed innovation motivation inventories measuring the need to be different and innovation expectancy, took the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking—Verbal (TTCT-V), and wrote stories in response to eight Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) cards. The TAT stories were rated for creativity by four judges, who achieved a high level of reliability. TTCT-V standard scores correlated significantly with both the need to be different and innovation expectancy. The judged creativity of the TAT stories also correlated significantly with the need to be different. Moderate to strong correlations between TTCT-V scores and TAT-based creativity ratings indicate that the divergent thinking and creative product approaches measure closely related processes.